are apparent, as in Fig. 6. but they differ slightly in their position when compared with Catherwood (Fig. 3).

Stephens mentions that, at times, those engaged in commercial ventures have reached Santo Domingo del Palenque, and proceeded thence to the ancient Maya ruins, called, for want of a better name, Palenque, after the village near which they stand.

We have represented in Fig. 5 a sketch made by Mr. William Robert Thompson, who visited the ruins of Palenque in December, 1852, and again at a later date. Engaged in commercial pursuits in northern Chiapas and other parts of Mexico and Guatemala, Mr. Thompson has examined many of the old Maya cities, especially Qurigia and Palenque, sketching, in leisure moments, such details as he found interesting, preserving them for his own gratification. In looking over his portfolio some years ago I was struck with the resemblance of his drawing (Fig. 5) to that of Waldeck (Fig. 2). Mr. Thompson having returned to Mexico, I wrote to him in 1882 requesting a copy of his sketch, and, with all due courtesy, he presented me with the original, accompanying it with an autograph letter. The letter and sketch I shall forward to the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, so that they can be preserved for future examination.

Comparing the Thompson sketch with that of Mr. Waldeck, it will be seen that the latter has omitted the small incised circles which are present in the former, on the bar of the cross and at its top and sides, which Mr. Thompson's letter especially mentions as present. Waldeck, in the cross-like glyph, to the right, gives

were present on its perpendicular and parallel bars. He has, in a recent conversation upon the subject, expressed the belief that this symbol of the winds has been mutilated intentionally, and that the two circles at the sides of the perpendicular bar are quite recent additions, made by someone trying to alter the glyph into the semblance of a face. Two small circles on either side suggest the eyes, and the upper portion of the perpendicular upright above heing mutilated across, just beyond its point of junction with the parallel bar, thus produces a semblance to a nose, the parallel bar assuming somewhat the appearance of a mouth. This seems to be the case in the small Urbino photograph, but in the enlarged copy the mutilation of the glyph is more apparent, yet, as we have suggested, these matters can only be decided upon by a careful study of the original tablet.

A realistic drawing of the upper-centre component of this hieroglyph would be of great value for comparison with the photograph, as there are some details which the camera does not reproduce. If some of our artists visiting the Muséo Nacional, at the City of Mexico, would make a careful drawing of the Casa No. 2 tablet, it would be of great value to those engaged in the study of Maya palæography, and no doubt determine the question whether a cross and its dots (Fig. 5) are to be accepted as the true components of the glyph, or the details given in Fig. 6 of the plate accompanying this article. Until these doubts be settled, attempts at its interpretation are useless.

Thompsow.

Photograph.

Charnay.

6

two small circles as its components, and Thompson gives three, which Charnay also indicates in Fig. 5, while both he and Catherwood omit the small round glyph with the incised circle, which is shown at the lower right-hand side in the Urbino photograph (Fig. 6), also in the sketches of Waldeck and Thompson. It is not surprising that so careful a draftsman as Catherwood should have omitted details in drawing this glyph, ill as he was with fever and subjected to annoyances which only those who have encountered them can appreciate.

All of the drawings of this (Fig. 6) glyph differ more or less; those of Waldeck and Thompson have four of the small glyphs represented with a fair degree of exactitude, accepting the photograph as our standard; Catherwood and Charnay have three details of the compound glyph which are, in a measure, correct. The fact that Messrs. Waldeck and Thompson both give a symbol resembling the symbol of the cardinal points as a component of the glyph which we are considering, suggests a probability that it existed and has been effaced. The surface of the glyph at present being so mutilated it would be best to examine the original tablet with care before deciding the matter, which I hope someone interested in palæography will have the opportunity of doing in the near future. The position of the three small circles in Fig. 6 correspond with the Thompson sketch (Fig. 5), even if the cross is absent, and, as Thompson gives an incised circle to either side of the cross at the top, it is not improbable that a series of dotted lines, or circles, at one time ran completely around the glyph, as we see a slight suggestion of this in Charnay's sketch (Fig. 4), and also in Catherwood's Fig. 3. Mr. Thompson asserts, positively, in his letter, that a cross did exist, and that the three incised circles

THE OSAGE RIVER AND ITS MEANDERS.

BY ARTHUR WINSLOW, OFFICE OF THE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, JEFFERSON CITY, мо.

IN the remarks upon the Osage River in Missouri, which form part of his admirable notice of the topographic maps of the U. S. Geological Survey, published in Science of April 28, 1893, Professor Davis has, with great acumen, hit upon one of the most noticeable features of the drainage of the State, or, at least, of the southern part. The peculiar meandering of the deeply trenched Osage Valley around spurs of high upland country, as referred to by us in a recent report of the Geological Survey,1 is a feature shared by nearly all of the principal streams of the Ozark region. The Meramec and the Gasconade Rivers, the Big Piney and the Bourbeuse Creeks of the northern slope have the same swinging course; as have also their tributaries and those of the Osage itself. White River, on the southern slope, in Missouri and Arkansas, is characterized by similar convolutions. The courses of Big River and of the St. Francois River in the southeast have a like aspect. In strong contrast to this are the streams of that portion of the State lying north of the Missouri River-the drift-covered area. Here the courses are, in a general way, straight, often parallel in groups, the meanders of the streams confined to their present flood plains; their channels apparently having originated in the mantle of glacial drift. They are comparatively of recent origin, the older drainage system which lies masked beneath the drift may have been more tortuous.

The suggestive explanation which Professor Davis offers for the sunken curved course of the Osage, i e., that it has been developed, through elevation and corrosion, from the flood-plain meanders of the stream, originating during an earlier base-leveled condition of the country, seems a natural explanation and is in many respects satisfactory. Still we hesitate to accept it in the present stage of our knowledge on mere a priori grounds. We see that it calls for a previous base-leveling of the whole Missouri-Ozark region, if not of the contiguous or even remoter Arkansas territory. Further, the hypothesis has so intimate a bearing upon the problems of recent geologic history of this country, over and above its relation to the development of the topography, that we wish to see full test made of its sufficiency before we adopt it as an axiom.

According to the best light we have at present, we recognize that the Ozark area was uplifted in late Cambrian times and remained above water level, in part at least, probably until the carboniferous period; that, if entirely submerged during the Mississippian epoch, it was so only long enough to receive but a "Report on Iron Ores," vol. il, p. 89.

thin covering of the rocks of that formation; that these rocks were subjected to subareal erosion before and probably during the Pennsylvanian epoch and that coal-measure strata probably never covered the dome of the uplift; that since this time the region has been continuously above water level. According to this record the sculpturing of the topography must have been uninterruptedly in progress from the end of the Paleozoic to the present time.

Professor Davis sees evidence in the character of the relief that denudation progressed to such a degree that the present upland was a lowland-" well into Tertiary time, and that the new trenches of the Osage and its neighbors were begun in consequence of an uplift somewhere about the close of Tertiary time" -as opposed to this conclusion we have the fact that the Ozark plateau is at present much above the limits which we recognize Tertiary seas to have reached. The altitude of the Tertiary margin of the Mississippi embayment in southeastern Missouri is under 400 feet A. T. The summit of the Ozarks is, however, as much as 1,700 feet above sea level and the greater portion of the upland is over 1,000 feet, and was consequently at least 600 feet above the Tertiary sea level. Could a country having this altitude above contiguous seas be in a base-leveled condition? Further, another fact to reconcile with this hypothesis is the finding of certain chert gravels fringing the Osage and other valleys of the Ozarks, not very high above the present channels of the streams, which we provisionally correlate with the Orange sands

pect certain peculiar features of topography to prevail. Thus, with a stream not yet at base level we should look for its channel to constantly hug the hill on that side of the stream which is impinged by the current; here we should expect to find bluffs developed and maintained; conversely, on the "lee" side of the stream, we should expect to find such flat alluvial plains as exist, with comparatively gentle slopes thence to the uplands. Further we should expect to find the points or promontories of uplands which are nearly surrounded by the loops of the river, sloping somewhat gradually towards their ends and not terminating in bluffs. These features are pronounced, in part at least, to a striking degree along the Osage. They are details which could not be brought out on the maps of the scale of those thus far made of the Osage country, but the constancy with which the stream clung to the bluffs on the impinging side was impressively seen during the recent trip along that river, while the form of the projecting uplands is well illustrated by the following copy of a portion of a map of Grand River, one of the tributaries of the Osage, recently surveyed by Mr. C. F. Marbut, of the Missouri Geological Survey. On the hypothesis advanced the precipitous slopes characterizing the upstream sides of the hills here shown are the result of the sapping action of the stream; the gradual slopes of the downstream sides are primarily a combined result of the lateral movement of the channel accompanying the expansion of the meanders, and of its downward movement by corrosion. It is true that similar features would result with the trench of

of the Mississippi, of probable late Tertiary age. These imply the existence of such valleys with approximately their present phases in late Tertiary times. Still, as the correlation of these gravels is as yet confessedly quite hypothetical, this consideration cannot claim much weight.

Another hypothesis which has been thought by us to suggest an explanation of the sinuosities of these streams, has gained some strength through the observations of a recent boat trip down the Osage River, from Osceola to its mouth. If we take the case of a stream with a slightly sinuous course and of considerable declivity, moderately incised in a nearly flat, or even in an undulating country of horizontal strata-such as might exist in a newly emerged land surface soon after its emergence- we can understand that meanders will tend to develop somewhat as they do in the alluvial plain of a stream which has reached base level. Where the current impinges sapping will increase the convexity and the sinuosities will become more pronounced Inasmuch, however, as the declivity of the stream is great, corrosion is still active and the channel thus sinks vertically at the same time that it moves laterally, and in this respect its development will differ from that of a channel in a base-leveled alluvial plain. As a natural result of this process we can see how the stream will eventually shape for itself a tortuous and steep-sided valley, with very narrow flood plains until the channel has reached base level, when corrosion will cease and lateral degradation will increase; then, swinging from bluff to bluff in a secondary system of sinuosities, the stream will sap its bordering hills and widen its flood plains. If this explanation be a true one we should ex

previously developed meanders in the manner suggested by Professor Davis; for we cannot conceive of a meandering channel sinking absolutely vertically. Lateral degradation and movement must always accompany corrosion and vertical lowering of the channel; if the meanders existed originally their shapes must have been modified to the present forms. Hence the effects cited would seem to be attributable to one of two causes, or to both combined. The question is whether one is not all sufficient; whether a previous base-leveled condition is a necessary assumption.

THE BOOM OF THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN.

BY T. A. BEREMAN, MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA How many of your readers ever saw a prairie hen, or, as they are commonly called in the west, the "prairie chicken?" Doubtless many have seen dead ones, killed and shipped for. the market, but I dare say that many of your younger readers, especially those living in the cities and towns, have rarely seen a live one. In 1845, when I came to Iowa, and for several years afterwards, they could be seen here in flocks of thousands together. But now there are only a few remnants of them left; here and there, in isolated fields, some dozen or two survivals have been permitted to remain. They are what is called the pinnated grouse of North America, and were formerly inhabitants of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and all the western prairie country.

But at present I only desire to call attention to the matinee songs of this wild bird of the prairie. Some morning in the

SCIENCE:

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A NEW ORTHOGRAPHY.

BY J. I. D. HINDS, CUMBERLAND UNIVERSITY, LEBANON, TENN.

THE orthography of the English language is distressingly bad. A reform in spelling would relieve education of one of its heaviest, burdens. The hardest task of the first six years of the child's school-life is the spelling lesson. Indeed, the labor never ends. The veteran school teacher dares not venture too far from his dictionary. None of the phonetic systems which have been presented have met with such favor as to pass into general use. Yet reform must be possible.

In the phonetic systems now before the world there are two barriers to their general adoption. In the first place, the change from the present spelling is too great and too abrupt. The human race is like a heavy body in motion. Change of direction must be effected gradually. In the second place, the proposed systems are too complicated, and present distinctions which are too nice to be generally appreciated. To be acceptable, a system must possess two leading characteristics: (1) It must make the least possible departure from that now in use, and (2) it must be so simple that it may be read at sight and that the little child can learn it understandingly.

I think such a system is within our reach and that it might be brought into general use in a few years. I suggest the following:

1. The present alphabet should be retained with as little change as possible. This is important, because new characters frighten the people and lay additional burdens on the printer. Besides, the language can be very well written with the characters which we have. The only deficiency is found with the vowels, and this can be supplied, as I shall show later.

2. Each character should have a fixed sound, and should retain the same sound in all its positions. In carrying out this rule, too much nicety must not be attempted. The vowel sounds are so variable that to represent all of them we should have to multiply characters almost indefinitely. We should thus have many words spelled differently in different positions and as coming from the mouths of different speakers. Every word should have a fixed form, and should retain this form in all its positions, though its pronunciation should vary. The written word is the symbol of an idea, and, at best, but approximately represents the spoken word. What we want is a compromise between the two which will do the least violence to pronunciation and afford the greatest ease in spelling. The mind tolerates a certain amount of ambiguity rather than endure too nice distinctions. This is illustrated in the varying sounds of the vowels as now used. Again, obscure sounds cannot be well represented phonetically. In syllables where they occur the vowel indicated by the etymology of the word should be retained.

3. Words should be spelled as they are pronounced, and each sound should be represented by its proper character wherever it occurs. Here, as before, too much nicety must not be attempted.

Let us have a judicious compromise. The great difficulty of English spelling does not depend upon the fact that each of the vowels has several sounds. It is rather because each of these sounds is represented, not only by the other vowels, but also by a wonderful variety of combinations of vowels and consonants. For example, the long sound of a is indicated in at least twenty different ways, as in the following words: Bass, fate, pain, pay, dahlia, vein, they, great, eh, goal, gauge, champagne, campaign, straight, feign, eight, aye, obeyed, weighed, halfpenny. So there are twenty-four combinations expressing the long sound of e, twentysix for the sound of a in all, among which are augh in aught, ough in thought, and augha in Vaughan; and for the sound of short unaccented a Miss Soames finds no less than thirty-four letters and combinations. No wonder the child, when learning to spell, is ready to give up in despair.

Now all that is very desirable can be attained through our present alphabet by giving to each letter a fixed sound and supplying a few vowel sounds by the use of double letters. The names of the letters should be so changed as to give to each vowel and vowel combination the sound which it represents and to make the names of the consonants uniform. We will take the five vowels and give them the names which they bave in the European languages, and let them, when written singly, represent the short sound of these vowels. Let the long sounds be indicated by doubling or adding the letter e. For the diphthongs retain the ordinary combinations. The vowel system will then stand as follows:

Examining this table, we see that the short vowels present no change from their present usage. The Italian a is expressed by doubling the letter. The long a really corresponds to short e, and there is a fitness, therefore, in representing it by ae. This is commonly done now, except that the e usually goes to the end of the syllable. The other long sounds are also appropriately indicated by adding e. The intermediate a is so little used that it hardly seems necessary to provide for it a separate character. Its sound is usually suggested by the consonants which follow it. The sound of u in bull is well represented by oo. The long u is really yu, and it is so indicated The least satisfactory of all, perhaps, is the use of ei for the long sound of i. The combination ai would have been better, but this occurs now in so many words and its sound is so well fixed that it was not thought best to change it. As a compromise, the letter I may still be retained for the personal pronoun. When these double vowels are once in use, they will naturally, in the course of time, be combined into one char

acter.

Since the short vowel sounds do not occur in accented, open syllables, the lengthening e may be omitted in these, and the spelling thus further simplified. As an additional compromise, the letters in such positions might retain their present sounds

With the consonants, we need have little trouble. We will obtain the name uniformly by adding to each letter and combination the long a. The sound being indicated by the name, it is not necessary to give sample words. With an approximate classification into surds and sonants, stops and continuants, they are, as follows:Consonants. t, tae, k, kae, th, thae, sh, shae,

p, pae, f, fae,

b, bae, v, vae,

c, cae (chae), s, sae

j, jae,

z, zae,

d, dae,

g. gae,

dh, dhae (they), zh, zhae,

n, nae,

hw, hwae (whay

In this table but few innovations will be observed. c is made equal to ch; dh and zh are used for the sonant th and sh; and his placed where it belongs, before the w in the combination wh. The letters q and x are not needed, but may still be used to avoid the awkward kw and ks.

In teaching this alphabet to children, and in spelling, the two characters which represent the long vowels and diphthongs should be pronounced as one sound, and not separately.

The following extract will give an idea of the appearance of the printed page in this system:

Soundz at levning.

Swiet waaz dhe sound, hwen oft, at ievning'z kloez,
Up yondur hil dhe villaj murmur roez.
Dhair, az I past with kairles steps and slo,
Dhe mingling noets kaem sofnd from belo;
Dhe swaen responsiv az dhe milk-maed sung,
Dhe sobur hurd dhat loed tu miet dher yung,
Dhe noizi gies dhat gabbld o'r dhe puel,
Dhe plaeful cildren just let lues from skuel,
Dhe waac-dog'z vois dhat baed dhe hwispring weind,
And dhe loud laaf dhat spoek dhe vaekant meind;—
Dhies aul in swiet konfyuzhun saut dhe shaed,
And fild iec pauz dhe neitingael had maed.

OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

My object in this paper is not to present a finished system, but to show that the spelling reform is practicable, and to suggest a modification of the alphabet which will bring the desired relief. The time and energy wasted by a child in learning to spell would, if otherwise employed, be sufficient to give him an ordinary education. Let us do something at once to relieve education of this great burden.

The plan here proposed has the following additional advantages:

1. The printed and written pages have no very unfamiliar look. 2. Print and script are easily read at sight by one who sees them for the first time.

3. One can learn in a few minutes to write in this system. 4. Its adoption will make no existing books obsolete or useless except a few primary school books.

5. It will give no special offence to the philologist.

6. It will lead easily to a better and more philosophical phonetic system.

ELECTRICAL NOTES.

The displays of high-voltage electricity which formed so prominent a feature of the late electrical exhibition held in the Crystal Palace, are not absent from the present one, but neither the display of Professor Elihu Thomson nor that of the Westinghouse Company approach, so far as spectacular effect is concerned, the exhibitions of Messrs. Siemens and Mr. Swinburne at the Crystal Palace. These latter were truly magnificent displays. They were, however, produced by high potentials obtained in the ordinary way, by transforming up, and on this account the experiments of Professor Elihu Thomson possess much more interest from a scientific point of view. The method used by the latter, as most electricians are aware, consists of passing a very rapidly alternating current through a few turns of a coarse copper wire wound round a glass tube placed in oil. Close to the coarse wire primary is wound a secondary of finer wire, and in this a very high voltage is induced by the current in the primary. This secondary current is also of very high periodicity, and all the Spottiswood and Moulton effects can be produced with it.

Owing, probably, to the resonant qualities of the room in which the Westinghouse exhibition takes place the noise of the discharge produces a very disagreeable effect on the nerves, even of those accustomed to working with high-potential discharges, so much so that one cannot help wondering at times if the powerful surgings in the ether do not directly excite the nerves as a battery does. It is true that in most of the high-frequency experiments no such effect is observed, but this may be because the quantity of current is in general very small. Meantime the coat-tails of

the spectators can be seen, as Rudyard Kipling would put it, "crawling with invidious apprehension."

One of the signs of the times is the exhibit of electrical heating and cooking apparatus shown by the Ansonia Electric Company in the gallery of the Electrical Building. Here we see all manner of utensils, baking ovens, gridirons, chafing dishes, saucepans, coffee pots, etc., all arranged so that by simply attaching a plug to an ordinary lighting circuit they are put in operation at once. The subject is such an important one that the writer has thought it best to go into it more in detail (vide infra). Meanwhile it may be mentioned that the exhibit is well worth a visit. The new Helios arc lamp, exhibited by the same firm, will also attract attention. This may be said to be, perhaps, the first thoroughly successful arc lamp for alternating currents. It is almost absolutely noiseless, and almost absolutely steady, more so than most direct-current lamps. These results are accomplished by the use of a low potential and of especially soft carbons.

It will be remembered that some years ago Mr. Edison brought out the kinetoscope. In this instrument a combination was made of the well-known zootrope and the phonograph, so that at the same time that the motions of the moving object were seen, the accompanying sounds were heard. The apparatus was exhibited at some of the charitable entertainments in New York through the influence of Mrs. Edison, but since then comparatively little has been seen of it. It has now been more fully developed and forms a part of the Edison exhibit in the gallery of the Electrical Building.

Among the instrument-makers the exhibit of Messrs. Queen & Co. stands preëminent. Their display is on the ground floor near the entrance, and includes almost every kind of electrical instrument made. A number of new instruments have been lately brought out by the firm. First among these we may mention Professor Ryan's electrometer, for use in making alternatingcurrent curves. This instrument, which has already been described in the electrical papers and has been in use for some time at Cornell, consists of an electrometer whose needle is charged through a very fine platinum or silver wire to the potential of the alternating current machine, at any part of its revolution, by means of the ordinary commutating device. So far it does not differ very greatly from the ordinary electrometer. It is a zero. instrument, however, and is brought back to its original position. by the action of a current in a surrounding coil of wire, which acts on a small magnet fastened to the electrometer needle. The instrument being once standardized, the potential can be found by measuring the current passed through the surrounding coil, and this, from the nature of the operation, is a very short process. While the instrument has been known for some time, this is the first occasion, we believe, that it bas been placed on the market. It is to be hoped that some firm will do the same for the dynamometer method of Dr. Duncan, which has been used with so much success at Johns Hopkins.

Another very fine instrument is the cylindrical bridge. It is a very mechanical piece of work, and looks as if it could be depended on. With the Carhart commutator, standard ratio coils, and one of the new Ayrton-D'Arson val galvanometers the electrician has a most complete apparatus for the measurement of resistances to almost any degree of accuracy.

These latter instruments (the Ayrton-D'Arsonval galvanometers), will probably interest the electrician more than anything else in the line of measuring apparatus. With electrical railways running. in every direction near one's laboratory, the path of whose earth returns varies from day to day, with every sprinkle of rain or difference of temperature, the use of an ordinary sensitive galvanometer has been entirely out of the question unless in the neighborhood of a very strict law and order society, when a little work might be done by getting up to the laboratory at some unearthly hour on a Sunday morning. For this reason the tangent. galvanometer has faded from the scene, and is now only used as a means of illustrating certain principles of electricity, its place being taken by Lord Kelvin's balances. And now the Thomson galvanometer must go before these new instruments, for the difference in sensibility is so small that there is practically no advan